The Disco Drink
Bright, garish, frequently blue or green hued, the Disco Drink has largely been replaced by the FAB, the fruit cider or just mainlining boiled sugar directly into your veins (please don’t try that last one). They are often out of balance – and certainly not in the sour direction of the sweet-sour balance – but they embrace fun, excess and colour
The visually striking Key West Cooler, the fruity, easy-going Sex on the Beach, the Orgasm, the Death Spasm, the Singapore Sling, the Ding-Ling… sorry, slipped into a dangerous reverie there
These drinks do not take themselves seriously, are usually pretty easy to put together and will bring a smile to drinkers of a certain age. We’re not saying they’re good, but they certainly have a throwback charm, so get those tiny umbrellas out because we’re taking a trip down memory lane
The Ding-a-Ling #1
We have a couple of recipes for a drink of the same name, and they couldn’t be more different. The Ding-a-Ling #2 is spirit-forward and complex, whereas this one is juicy and fun, and almost certainly shouldn’t taste this good
The Key West Cooler
This may be a specific memory to my bartending past, but it’s garish colouring and liqueur-driven ingredients list certainly grants it a place on this dubious lineup
The Screaming Orgasm
Oh, what to say about the Screaming Orgasm. While it’s mostly ordered so that raucous hen parties could say inappropriate things to bartenders – again, this may be specific to my own past – it turns out it’s a pretty great booze milkshake
The Blue Lagoon
This one certainly cashes the cheques that the name of the drink is writing, but here we’ve tried to balance it out a little so that it retains its signature look and citrus character but will not result in a lifetime of insulin dependency
The Fuzzy Navel
This cocktail brings to mind imagery that you don’t really want when taking a drink. That said, this insanely easy to prepare drink is fun, juicy and sweet enough to be liked by most. Some. A few
The Tequila Sunrise
A drink popularised in no small part by that usually straight-laced, sensible gang of lads, The Rolling Stones. Mick Jagger tried one at the afterparty for the first date in their 1972 tour and promptly bathed in them daily for the remainder of the run, christening it the ‘Tequila Sunrise Tour’, amongst other things
The Grasshopper
This creamy green drink is a tremendously simple cocktail that either tastes like toothpaste or mint choc-chip ice cream, depending on how much you like fun things
The Midori Sour
This drink’s eponymous base ingredient was launched at the legendary Studio 54 in 1978. You don’t get much more disco than that. It’s bright, it’s green and there’s nothing else quite like it
